I read somewhere that one of the first things a stranger does when meeting you for the first time is to examine the quality of your shoes. Are they clean and polished? Do they match? I thought this was funny when I first heard it. However, if you don’t take care of your shoes, how careless will you be with other things? Here’s how blind people (who care) make sure their shoes match when they are in public.

Create a New System
If you can’t use your eyes to find something or to see what color or condition something is in; you create a system to tell you what you need to know. Vision is a very handy tool. It is like a Swiss-army-knife for solving problems. But, what do you do if you can’t count on vision as your system? Simple, create a new system that will work for you.

What system for finding shoes work for me?
I have a system for finding the shoes I want when I want them. It is a very simple system that works great for me and would probably work just fine for others. But, in case my system isn’t right for you, feel free to create your own. The only rule is that it works for you.

The system I use for finding my shoes is very simple. I put them in a designated area when I take them off. So, when I need to find them, they are easy to track down. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t always. Towards the end of the workweek, I tend to forget my systems and do not trust myself to remember where I put things after I have arrived home exhausted. The downside when I deviate from my system is that often Monday morning, I must ask my family members to help me to remember where I put them. This is embarrassing and unnecessary. If I had stuck to my system, I wouldn’t waste my and my family’s time.

How do blind people know which shoe goes with which?
It is all about the system. After I have taken off my shoes in the designated place at the end of the day, I tie the two shoes together using the laces. With them tied this way, they won’t get separated no matter how much the floor of my closet gets disturbed.

Matching shoes isn’t too hard. When I buy shoes of the same color (most times black for work), I make sure that there is also some physical difference between them that can easily be felt. For example, I buy shoes where the tread is different. I have two pairs of black dress shoes that are almost the same except for a small piece of leather on the tip of one of the pairs. A little awareness can go a long way towards making life a whole lot less confusing.

What is your system for making the complex simple?
I began this article talking about shoes. It became evident that the most important thought here is that given the right system, a lot of seemingly challenging problems for the vision-impaired can easily be dealt with. Find a system for whatever problem you are challenged by and make sure you follow it consistently.